PPA REMINDS SEN. KYL OF UIGEA IMPERFECTIONS

PPA REMINDS SEN. KYL OF UIGEA IMPERFECTIONSOne of the most egregious flaws in the bill is that it does not define "unlawful Internet gambling" clearlyLas week's report in the Las Vegas Review-Journal (see previous InfoPowa report) that Senator Jon Kyl was growing impatient with the protracted drafting process on regulations to support the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act elicited a tart response this week from the Poker Players Association.The Las Vegas director of the PPA, Ken Illgen minced no words in his letter to the LVRJ editor, saying: "Frankly, the confusion regulators are dealing with as they develop the regulations to enforce the law is a direct result of how this act was written and sneaked into a must-pass port security bill in the dead of night, allowing no time for review and debate."Illgen goes on to point out that one of the most egregious flaws in the bill is that it does not define "unlawful Internet gambling" clearly – something that the legislators trying to make Internet gambling unlawful should have included.

"This law is clearly unworkable, as regulators, bankers and several members of Nevada's congressional delegation have publicly stated," Illgen concludes. "To truly place checks and balances on Internet gambling, Congress should look to existing legislation that would seek to regulate online gambling in order to protect children and problem gamblers and collect the billions of dollars in lost tax revenue from these transactions.

"Let's not blame regulators for struggling to enact this flawed and ambiguous bill, and [instead] start looking for workable solutions to truly regulate this growing online industry.